7 Acts of Love in 7 Days of Boredom soundtrack
Soundtrack for the 6 channel video installation, this is the 7th act of love.
Interpreted and composed by Noriko Tujiko, a japanese musician living in Paris.
Text by Elisa Tan, taiwanese writer and curator, living in London.
7 Acts of Love in 7 Days of Boredom
*for collaboration with Katia Kameli
Act 1
The Declaration (Stolen Lines):
He gets off his seat, walks to the door.
“I love you.”
“Next stop, Greenpoint Ave, stand clear of the closing doors.”
Halfway out, one foot each on the train and platform
He jams his arms between the closing doors,
“I LOVE YOU – you make my life more than it could ever be.”
She eases back into her seat
tucks a private smile behind her ears.
One stray brown curl.
Sep 28 2007, G train between Nassau Ave and Greenpoint Ave
Act 2
The cusp of the sun recedes,
Rays behind an old church, silent chimes like pins
tilted towards cloud cushion and wordless sky:
Inside, a young African-American boy sits
waiting for no one
He highlights Scripture from a Bible,
Waiting aimlessly
For the mouth of God to move
but
once.
Oct 9 2007, Manhattan Ave, OTT Thai Restaurant, Brooklyn
Act 3
Overslept
So Tired
If late
Get Fired
Why bother?
Why the pain?
Just go home.
Do it again.
Norman B. Colp
‘The Commuter’s Lament / A Close Shave’
Subway Art – 42nd Street/ Port Authority Bus Terminal
18 November 2007
Act 5
Half-drunk and close beside
another perfect stranger.
One arm on a bare, blue chest.
Let me recite you, stranger
a bedtime story in my
awkward Mandarin:
The poet Li Bai was held for treason by a tyrant Emperor who for no reason loved beheading Intellectuals. He was given grace enough to be granted clemency but only one condition. That he would compose his own pardon in 7 paces.
One pace a day, each pace made 7 days, 20 words and 4 lines of verse.
Let me translate it into a
Sonnet you can understand,
Its title:
‘Thoughts on a Quiet Night’
Or Corcovado:
The moon is bright above this bed
A sheet of frost covers the ground
I raise my head, glance to the light
Lower my head to dream of home
This is but a game – of substituting words,
For people, and people for words – of
Mixing stories and different poets
(Was it Li Bai or Cao Zhi,
Frank Sinatra, Antonio Carlos Jobim
Or Everything But the Girl?) :
Um cantinho, um violao
Esse amor, uma cancao
Pra fazer feliz ja que se ama
Muita calma pra pensar
E ter tempo pra sonhar
Da janela ve-se o Corcovado
O Redentor, que lindo
Quero a vida sempre assim
Com voce perto de mim
Até o apagar da velha chama
E eu, que era triste
Descrente desse mundo
Ao encontrar voce eu conheci
O que é a felicidade, meu amor
~
At dawn the pigeons
betrayed my verse
with their cooing of nowhere:
lovers are able
to find a home
most everywhere.
For that, for this, for you –
There is neither
confession nor pardon.
Undated and Going Nowhere
Act 6
Lost and listening to Chopin
Nothing to do but to keep walking
and walking
: 2 nights past our separate ways
A speck of rain breaks and blushes
on a perfect cheek
a hairline crack on porcelain
26 nov 2007, E14th St to 8th St, NY
Act 4
Nothing to desire.
Something to recall.
Nothing to regret.
Vera Pavlova:
14 Nov 2007, M23 Bus service from W23rd St, Chelsea
Act 7
Amore….I
Infinity, Drift across continents
Eliza Tan
7 Sept – 3 December
New York, 2007